Threshold voltage adjustment of a transistor

ABSTRACT

A threshold voltage adjusted long-channel transistor fabricated according to short-channel transistor processes is described. The threshold-adjusted transistor includes a substrate with spaced-apart source and drain regions formed in the substrate and a channel region defined between the source and drain regions. A layer of gate oxide is formed over at least a part of the channel region with a gate formed over the gate oxide. The gate further includes at least one implant aperture formed therein with the channel region of the substrate further including an implanted region within the channel between the source and drain regions. Methods for forming the threshold voltage adjusted transistor are also disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/155,029, filed Jun. 7, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,111,958, issued Aug.18, 2015, which application is a divisional of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/932,209, filed Oct. 31, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,968,411,issued Jun. 28, 2011, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/081,336, filed Mar. 16, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,422,948,issued Sep. 9, 2008, which is a divisional of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/690,399, filed Oct. 20, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,274,076,issued Sep. 25, 2007, the disclosure of each of which is herebyincorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.

BACKGROUND

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to semiconductor devices and, moreparticularly, to threshold voltage adjustment of long-channel MOStransistors.

State of the Art

Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) is the primary technology forlarge-scale integrated semiconductor circuits. In Complementary MOS(CMOS) architectures, these semiconductor circuits combine two types ofMOS devices, namely p-channel MOS (PMOS) devices and n-channel MOS(NMOS) devices, on the same integrated circuit. An MOS transistor is afour-terminal device which controls the current that flows between twoof the terminals by activating and deactivating the voltage that isapplied to the third or fourth terminal. FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectionaldiagram of a conventional n-channel MOS transistor 10. As shown in FIG.1, transistor 10 includes spaced-apart n+ source and drain regions 12and 14, which are formed in a p-type substrate 16 and a channel region18, which is defined between source and drain regions 12 and 14. Sourceand drain regions 12 and 14, in turn, represent the first two terminalsof the device while substrate 16 represents the third terminal.

Transistor 10 also includes a layer, illustrated as gate oxide 20, whichis formed over channel region 18, and a gate 22 which is formed overgate oxide 20. Gate 22 represents the fourth terminal of the device.During operation of the transistor 10, electrons flow from source region12 to drain region 14 when an electric field is established betweensource and drain regions 12 and 14. Furthermore, the drain-to-substratejunction is reverse biased when a gate voltage equal to or greater thanthe threshold voltage of transistor 10 is applied to gate 22. Theseconditions can be met, for example, when ground is applied to substrate16 and source region 12, and one volt, for example, is applied to drainregion 14.

A gate voltage applied to gate 22 attracts electrons to the surfaceadjacent to gate oxide 20 of substrate 16 in channel region 18. When aminimum number of electrons have been attracted to the surface ofsubstrate 16 in channel region 18, the electrons form a channel thatallows the electrons in source region 12 to flow to drain region 14under the influence of the electric field. The threshold voltage isdefined as the minimum gate voltage that must be applied to gate 22 toattract the minimum number of electrons to the surface of substrate 16to form an electrically conductive inversion region in the channelregion 18.

The threshold voltage of transistor 10 may be altered or adjusted byimplanting the surface of substrate 16 in channel region 18 with, forexample, a p-type dopant which, in turn, decreases the number ofelectrons that can be accumulated at the surface in the channel region18. Since fewer electrons are available, a higher gate voltage is neededto attract the minimum number of electrons that are required to form aninversion layer in the channel region 18. A threshold voltage adjustmentimplant is commonly referred to as an “enhancement” implant.

MOS transistors are formed using photolithographic processes accordingto design rules corresponding to a particular process. The design rulesspecify, among other things, the minimum length of the channel region.To gain performance advantages and as processing technology advancementshave been achieved, the channel length between the source and drain hasgenerally shortened. Furthermore, to minimize the silicon area consumedby an MOS circuit, a typical integrated circuit design is largelyimplemented with transistors that have the minimum channel length. Sincethe circuit is largely implemented with transistors that have theminimum channel length, the fabrication process, for example, theenhancement implant, is commonly optimized to adjust the thresholdvoltages of the transistors that have the minimum channel length. Whileperformance improvement is generally a paramount objective for MOScircuit design, it is common for circuits, in addition to utilizingtransistors having minimum channel length, to also require transistorsthat have channel lengths that are longer than the minimum. For thosetransistors with a longer channel length, a lower threshold voltage isrealized when the threshold voltage is optimized for a shorter channeltransistor through the use of a single enhancement implant.

FIG. 2 is a graph that generally plots the threshold voltages as afunction of channel length. As shown in FIG. 2, when the thresholdvoltage is optimized for an arbitrary fabricable channel length x, thethreshold voltage of a transistor decreases as the channel length of thetransistor increases. Furthermore, the reduced threshold voltages of thelonger channel devices lead to increased leakage currents which, inturn, are particularly undesirable in circuits that are utilized inbattery-operated devices.

One prior solution to this problem is to utilize multiple thresholdvoltage adjusting enhancement implants. In a first step, dopants areimplanted into the surface of the substrate to adjust the thresholdvoltages of the short-channel transistors while the long-channeltransistors are protected from the implant. In a second step, dopantsare implanted into the surface of the substrate to adjust the thresholdvoltages of the long or longer channel transistors while theshort-channel transistors are protected from the implant. By utilizing,for example, two implant steps, the dopant concentration for the shortand long-channel lengths can be separately optimized.

One shortcoming to the multiple-threshold adjusting implant approach,however, is that utilizing separate implant steps requires separatemasks which, in turn, increases the cost of fabricating the circuit.Thus, there is a need for adjusting the threshold voltage oflong-channel MOS transistors to a higher threshold voltage when thelong-channel transistor is fabricated with a single threshold-voltageimplant step that is optimized to set the threshold voltage of ashort-channel transistor.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present invention, in exemplary embodiments, is directed tothreshold voltage adjustments for long-channel transistors fabricatedusing processes optimized for short-channel transistors. In oneembodiment of the present invention, a threshold-adjusted transistorincludes a substrate with spaced-apart source and drain regions formedin the substrate and a channel region defined between the source anddrain regions. A layer of gate oxide is formed over at least a part ofthe channel region with a gate formed over the gate oxide. The gatefurther includes at least one implant aperture formed therein with thechannel region of the substrate further including an implanted regionwithin the channel between the source and drain regions.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided forforming a transistor. A gate is formed having source and drain ends andinsulated from a substrate with the gate including at least one apertureextending therethrough to the substrate. Doped regions are formed in thesubstrate adjacent to the drain and source ends as separated by achannel region and also one or more doped regions are formed in thesubstrate below the aperture of the gate. Source and drain regions arethen formed in the substrate adjacent to the source and drain ends ofthe gate.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a method is providedfor adjusting a threshold voltage of a long-channel transistor in afabrication process optimized for short-channel transistors. At leastone aperture is formed in a gate on a substrate with a first dopantimplanted through the at least one aperture into a channel region of thesubstrate. The first implanted dopant is annealed into the channel ofthe long-channel transistor.

In yet a further embodiment of the present invention, a method formanufacturing an MOS structure on a semiconductor substrate is provided.A gate oxide layer is formed over the semiconductor substrate with apolysilicon layer also being formed over the gate oxide layer. A firstmask layer is formed and patterned followed by etching to form a gate.The gate includes an aperture between the source and drain ends of thepolysilicon layer. Implant regions are formed in the substrate adjacentto the drain and source ends of the gate. Also, at least one implantregion is formed in the substrate through the aperture of the gate.Source and drain regions are formed in the substrate adjacent to thesource and drain ends of the gate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which illustrate what is currently considered to be thebest mode for carrying out the invention:

FIG. 1 illustrates the elements of a semiconductor transistor, inaccordance with the prior art;

FIG. 2 graphically illustrates the relationship between a transistorthreshold voltage and the channel length of a transistor, in accordancewith the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a transistor having a gate with internalimplant apertures, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a transistor having a gate withinternal implant apertures, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 5A-5F illustrate processing steps for forming a transistorincluding implant regions throughout a channel, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates an arrangement of implant windows along a gate of atransistor, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an arrangement of implant windows along a gate of atransistor, in accordance with another embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 8 illustrates angular relationships of an implant aperture, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While short-channel transistors are susceptible to decreased thresholdvoltages and therefore utilize threshold voltage adjusting enhancementimplants for adjusting the threshold voltage, short-channel transistorsare also susceptible to so-called “hot carrier effects.” Generally, asthe channel length is shortened, the maximum electric field E_(m)becomes more isolated near the drain side of the channel, causing asaturated condition that increases the maximum energy on the drain sideof the MOS device. The high energy causes electrons in the channelregion to become “hot.” An electron generally becomes hot in thevicinity of the drain edge of the channel where the energy arises. Hotelectrons can degrade device performance and cause breakdown of thedevice. Moreover, the hot electrons can overcome the potential energybarrier between the silicon substrate and the silicon dioxide layeroverlying the substrate, which causes hot electrons to be injected intothe gate oxide.

Problems arising from hot carrier injections into the gate oxide includegeneration of a gate current and generation of a positive trapped chargethat can permanently increase the threshold voltage of the MOS device.These problems are manifested as an undesirable decrease in saturationcurrent, decrease of the transconductance and a continual reduction indevice performance caused by trapped charge accumulation. Thus, hotcarrier effects cause unacceptable performance degradation in MOSdevices built with conventional drain structures when channel lengthsare short.

Reducing the maximum electric field E_(m) in the drain side of thechannel is a popular way to control the hot carrier injections. A commonapproach to reducing E_(m) is to minimize the abruptness in voltagechanges near the drain side of the channel. Disbursing abrupt voltagechanges reduces E_(m) strength and the harmful hot carrier effectsresulting therefrom. Reducing E_(m) occurs by replacing an abrupt draindoping profile with a more gradually varying doping profile. A moregradual doping profile distributes E_(m) along a larger lateral distanceso that the voltage drop is shared by the channel and the drain. Absenta gradual doping profile, an abrupt junction can exist where almost allof the voltage drop occurs across the channel. The smoother or moregradual the doping profile, the smaller E_(m) becomes resulting inreduced hot carrier injections.

One approach for minimizing the effects associated with hot carrierinjections includes forming a modified drain structure, such as lightlydoped drain (LDD) structure. LDD structures provide a doping gradient atthe drain side of the channel that lead to the reduction in E_(m). TheLDD structures act as parasitic resistors to absorb some of the energyinto the drain and thus reduce maximum energy in the channel region.This reduction in energy reduces the formation of hot electrons. In mosttypical LDD structures of MOS devices, sources/drains are formed by twoimplants with dopants, one implant self-aligned to the polysilicon gateto form shallow source/drain extension junctions that are lightly dopedsource/drain regions and a second implant with a heavier dose to formthe actual deep source/drain junctions.

In addition to the concern over hot carrier injection in short channels,a condition known as “punch-through” is also of concern. To furtherprotect the transistor from punch-through conditions, a double diffusion(DD) process may further surround the LDDs. The DD process implants oneor more dopants into the same region followed by a high temperatureannealing step, in which the one or more dopants diffuse simultaneously,and form a structure called a double-diffused (DD) region, also commonlycalled a double-diffused drain (DDD). In an exemplary DD process, amedium phosphorus dose and a heavy arsenic dose may be implanted; but inboth cases a p-type Boron halo implant is put in to surround the n-typeLDD implant to protect against “punch-through.” The faster-diffusingphosphorus is driven farther under the gate edge than the arsenic,creating a less abrupt concentration gradient for the drain.

When transistor channel lengths are several times longer than thediameter of the LDD and DD regions, the threshold voltage adjusting orenhancement implant exhibits the dominant effect over the other adjacentimplants. However, as fabrication processes improve, transistor channellengths generally decrease. In short-channel transistors that includeone or both of an LDD or DD region, the LDD or DD implant diffusions,with their larger dopant concentrations, more greatly influence thethreshold voltage adjustment than does the enhancement implant.Therefore, processes that include both short and long-channels wouldnecessarily exhibit differing threshold voltages since the thresholdvoltage of short-channel transistors is more greatly influenced by theLDD and DD implants while the threshold voltage of the long-channeltransistors is more greatly influenced by the threshold voltageadjusting enhancement implant.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a transistor incorporating a channelimplant process, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. A transistor 30 is formed upon and within a substrate 42 andgenerally includes a gate 32 formed upon a gate oxide 28 according toprocesses known by those of ordinary skill in the art. Transistor 30further includes a drain region 48 and a respective source region 50generally formed within substrate 42. In accordance with the channelimplant process of an embodiment of the present invention, gate 32further includes one or more apertures 34, 36 formed within the generalbody of gate 32. Apertures 34, 36 provide internal implant windows 38,40 into the channel region 52 located generally below gate 32. Thequantity of apertures 34, 36 is a function of the dimensions of thechannel, namely channel length 44 and channel width 46. As viewed in atop view, apertures 34, 36 may be in the shape of a square, rectangle,circle, polygon, or any other uniform or non-uniform shape. However, asquare aperture is shown in the drawing figures, and used as an examplehereinafter. Additionally, the aperture, when viewed from the top, maybe entirely or partially enclosed or surrounded by gate 32. For example,the aperture may be located on the edge of the gate 32 and not entirelyenclosed with the gate material resulting in a notch, groove, keyhole,or the like. However, it is currently preferred that the aperture beenclosed within gate 32. The aperture may be formed by conventional maskand etch procedures either before or after the gate 32 is formed.

FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view of transistor 30 formedaccording to the channel implant process, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. Transistor 30 further includes agate 32 illustrated as including cross-sectional gate portions 32′, 32″and 32″′ which are separated by apertures 34, 36. Gate 32 is separatedfrom substrate 42 by an insulating gate oxide 28 created in a channelregion 52 on the side of substrate 42 adjacent to gate oxide 28.

Transistor 30 also includes drain region 48 and source region 50separated by the channel region 52. Drain region 48 includes a mainportion and an adjacently located inward lightly doped extensionillustrated as LDD structure 54. LDD structure 54 may extend slightlyunder gate portion 32″′. The source region 50 of transistor 30 is formedsimultaneously with the drain region 48 and is typically configured in alike manner. The source region 50 includes a main source portion and amore lightly doped extension illustrated as LDD structure 56. Similarly,through one or more apertures 34, 36, channel internal implanted regionssuch as additional LDD structures 58, 60 are also formed. The purpose ofthe first implant is to form LDD structures at the edge near the channeland to provide internal implanting within the channel. In an LDDstructure, almost the entire voltage drop occurs across the lightlydoped drain region.

Additional more heavily doped implants such as double diffused (DD)implants may also be formed about drain region 48 and source region 50.DD implants are generally illustrated as DD structures 62, 64 and aretypically more heavily doped than the original enhancement implantsgenerally illustrated as enhancement implant 66. In accordance with anembodiment of the present invention, DD implants are also performedthrough apertures 34, 36 to form DD structures 68, 70 located within theinternal channel region 52 of transistor 30.

By way of example and not limitation, the relative doping densities asdescribed herein include enhancement implants on the order of E¹² andLDD implants on the order of E¹². Furthermore, DD implants are implantedat, for example, densities on the order of E¹³ while the source anddrain regions are implanted at levels on the order of E¹⁵. Therefore, itis evident that for short-channel transistors where the LDD and DDstructures occupy a significant portion of the channel length, the LDDand DD implants more greatly influence the threshold voltage of thetransistor than a threshold voltage adjusting enhancement implant.Embodiments of the present invention enable implanting through the useof apertures distributed about the internal arrangement of the longergate structures dominating doping densities into the longer channelsconsistent with the dominant doping densities implanted in shorterchannel devices.

To form the source and drain regions, spacers 114, 116 (FIG. 5E) areformed around the gate. With the shallow drain extension junctionsprotected by the spacers, a second implant with heavier dose isself-aligned to the oxide spacers around the gate to form deepsource/drain junctions illustrated as source/drain regions 50, 48.Generally, a rapid thermal annealing occurs (RTA) to enhance thediffusion of the dopants implanted in the deep source/drain junctions.The source/drain implant with heavier doses form low resistance deepdrain junctions, which are coupled to the LDD structures. Since thesource/drain implant is spaced from the channel by the spacers, theresulting drain junction adjacent to the lightly doped drain region canbe made deeper without impacting device operation. The increase junctiondepth lowers the sheet resistance and the contact resistance of thedrain.

In most typical LDD structures for CMOS devices, sources/drains areformed by four implants with dopants, each implant requiring a maskingstep. The four masking steps are: a first mask (a P-LDD mask) to formthe P-LDD structures, a second mask (an N-LDD mask) to form the N-LDDstructures, a third mask (a P+S/D mask) to form the p-type doped, deepsource/drain junctions, and a fourth mask (an N+S/D mask) to form then-type doped, deep source/drain junctions. Each masking step typicallyincludes the sequential steps of preparing the semiconductor substrate,applying a photoresist material, soft-baking, patterning and etching thephotoresist to form the respective mask, hard-baking, implanting adesired dose of a dopant with the required conductivity type, strippingthe photoresist, and then cleaning of the substrate 24.

FIGS. 5A-5F (hereinafter collectively “FIG. 5”) illustrate across-sectional view of a portion of the silicon wafer during variousprocessing steps to create the transistor structure of FIG. 4, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. While the presentillustration depicts a p-type substrate forming an n-channel MOStransistor, a p-channel transistor may also be implemented according tothe processes described herein as modified by processes known by thoseof ordinary skill in the art. Referring to FIG. 5A, a substrate 42 hasapplied thereon a masking layer 82 which is applied and patternedaccording to processes known by those of ordinary skill in the art. Thepatterning process creates an opening 84, which corresponds to thechannel region 52 of a developing transistor. An enhancement implant 86creates an enhancement region 88 which typically facilitates thresholdvoltage adjustment in a transistor device. By way of example, thethreshold voltage of an n-channel transistor would be adjusted byintroducing a p-type dopant, typically boron, into at least a portion ofthe channel region 52.

FIG. 5B illustrates the process for forming an LDD structure, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this process,a gate insulating oxide 90 is formed over the previously defined channelregion 52 with a gate layer 92, such as a polysilicon layer, depositedover gate insulating oxide 90. Furthermore, gate 32 has formed thereinone or more apertures 34, 36 for facilitating implantation within theouter periphery of gate 32. Using gate 32 as a mask, impurity ions, forexample n-type impurity ions, are generally vertically implanted as LDDimplant 94 into substrate 42 in a low concentration, thereby forming LDDstructures 96, 98, 100, 102.

FIG. 5C illustrates a double diffusion (DD) implant 104 into substrate42 for forming punch-through inhibitors. For the n-channel example ofthe present embodiment, a p-type dopant is angle-implanted as an ionimplantation with portions of the p-type implant penetrating laterallyunder gate portions 32′, 32″, 32″′ due to the angular implant process.In a preferred implantation process, substrate 42 is rotated inpreferably four separate rotations for facilitating the angularimplantation about the generally rectangular profile of gate 32. Theangular DD implant 104 results in implant regions 106, 108, 110, and112.

In an annealing process as depicted in FIG. 5D, the various implantationions of both the LDD implants 94 and DD implants 104 result in furtherpenetration of the implant ions into substrate 42. As illustrated, theLDD structures (or n- regions) 96-102 as well as the DD implant regions106-112 migrate under the channel region 52 located under the gate 32.Migration of the higher dopant concentrations of the LDD implants andthe DD implants minimizes the impact of the enhancement implant 86 ofFIG. 5A and causes the threshold voltage to change according to theadditional dopant concentrations.

In FIG. 5E, spacers 114, 116 as well as implant shields 118, 120 protectthe underlying structures from the high concentration source/drainimplant 122 while the source region 50 and drain region 48 areimplanted. As illustrated in FIG. 5F, spacers 114, 116 and implantshields 118, 120 are removed to complete the formation of transistor 30.As illustrated, transistor 30 is comprised of a gate 32, drain andsource regions 48, 50 as well as drain and source specific LDDstructures 54, 56 and drain and source specific DD structures 62, 64.Transistor 30 further comprises one or more internal LDD structures 58,60 as well as one or more internal DD structures (or regions) 68, 70.The formation of internal structures, through the use of implantsthroughout the length of the channel, more consistently aligns thethreshold voltage of a long-channel transistor with the thresholdvoltage of a short-channel transistor and thereby reduces the disparatethreshold voltages between respective long- and short-channeltransistors while eliminating independent threshold voltage enhancementimplants for long and short-channel transistors.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate grid arrangements of apertures, according tospecific embodiments of the present invention. In FIG. 6, the formationof a gate 134 includes an exemplary pattern of apertures 136 for thegate 134 shown in a “checkerboard” pattern between a source region 138and a drain region 140. In addition, an exemplary method for calculatingthe width of aperture 136 with respect to gate 134 height andimplantation angle (b) is shown in FIG. 8. One current exemplaryembodiment includes a gate length of about 0.1 micron to 4 microns. FIG.7 illustrates the formation of apertures in a gate, in accordance withanother embodiment of the present invention. A gate 142 includes anexemplary two-dimensional array of apertures 144 located between asource region 146 and a drain region 148. Further geometries andaperture shapes are also contemplated within the scope of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary aperture in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. The dimensions (A) 150 of anaperture 152 may be determined by the gate height, desired ionimplantation angle (b) 154, and process or manufacturing capabilities.For example, as shown in FIG. 8, if the gate height is 1200 Å and thedesired ion implantation angle (b) 154 is 65°, the dimension (A) 150would be (1200 Å/tan 65°) or 560 Å. With current process ormanufacturing capabilities, the aperture 152 dimensions are currentlypreferred to be greater than 0.02 micron by 0.02 micron. However, theaperture 152 dimension (A) should be small enough to allow the fringeeffects from the gate field to electrically invert the charge of thearea under the aperture 152 when a voltage is applied to the gate.

The angle (b) 154 shown in FIG. 8 is the angle for driving the dopantsinto the under layer in the channel region 52 (FIG. 5B). As an example,for a square aperture, this implantation will take place through thedevice apertures and gate edge and then the device or implantationequipment will be rotated 90° and then the implantation will take placeagain. This process will allow for the dopant to be implanted into thechannel region 52 of the device on all four sides of a square apertureonce a full revolution has been completed. The device or implantationdevice may turn or rotate more or less times and at a greater or lesserangle to implant the dopant into the channel region 52 depending on theshape of the aperture to get a uniform diffusion under the aperture.Implanting the dopant at the angle (b) 154 will create “fringe” effectregions in the channel region 52 of the device. The angle (a) 156 of theimplant at the apertures is currently preferred to be 0 to 25 degrees.The angle is determined by how far the dopant is to be driven under thegate. For example, a small angle (a) 156 will not drive the dopant asfar under the gate as a large angle (a) 156 implant. As a result of asmaller angle (a) 156, the fringing of the implant will be reduced inthe channel region 52. An exemplary ion implant is phosphorus (P) toprovide a negative (n-) doping of the channel region 52.

Embodiments of the present invention utilize the implant process forforming one or more of an LDD or a DD region in a short-channeltransistor for “enhancing” the concentration of dopants in the channelof a long-channel transistor. Therefore, both the short-channel andlong-channel transistors exhibit similar threshold voltages as adjustedby the LDD and/or DD implanting processes internal to the channel.

While the invention may be susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way ofexample in the drawings and have been described in detail herein.However, it should be understood that the invention is not intended tobe limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the inventionincludes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the followingappended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A transistor, comprising: a channel extendinglaterally between a source and a drain within a substrate; and a gatedisposed laterally over the channel, wherein the channel includes atleast one discrete doped region between the source and the drain,wherein the drain, the source, and the at least one discrete dopedregion are of a same substrate conductivity type, and are separated fromeach other by a region of the channel that is of a different substrateconductivity type.
 2. The transistor of claim 1, further comprisingdouble diffused implant regions disposed adjacent each of the source andthe drain.
 3. The transistor of claim 1, further comprising doublediffused implant regions disposed adjacent the at least one discretedoped region.
 4. The transistor of claim 1, wherein each of the sourceand the drain includes: a main portion; and a lightly doped extensionthat is adjacently located inward from the main portion, and thatextends under at least a portion of the gate.
 5. The transistor of claim4, wherein the at least one discrete doped region is located in thechannel between the lightly doped extensions of the source and thedrain.
 6. The transistor of claim 5, wherein the at least one discretedoped region includes a plurality of discrete doped regions that arelocated in the channel between the lightly doped extensions of thesource and the drain.
 7. The transistor of claim 6, wherein furthercomprising: double diffused implant regions disposed adjacent each ofthe source and the drain; double diffused implant regions disposedadjacent each discrete doped region of the plurality of discrete dopedregions; and enhancement implant regions that extend in the channelbetween neighboring double diffused implant regions of the source, thediscrete doped regions, and the drain.
 8. The transistor of claim 7,wherein the each of the double diffused implant regions are more heavilydoped than the enhancement implants, and wherein each of the source andthe drain are more heavily doped than the double implant diffusedregions.
 9. The transistor of claim 6, wherein the plurality of discretedoped regions are disposed in the channel in a two-dimensional patternalong a length and width of the channel between the source and the drainof the same transistor.
 10. The transistor of claim 1, wherein the gateincludes at least one aperture over the at least one discrete dopedregion.
 11. A method of forming a transistor, the method comprising:forming a channel extending laterally between a source and a drainwithin a substrate; forming at least one discrete doped region withinthe channel; forming a source and a drain on opposing ends of thechannel, wherein the drain, the source, and the at least one discretedoped region are of a same substrate conductivity type, and areseparated from each other by a region of the channel that is of adifferent substrate conductivity type; and forming a gate laterally overthe channel.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein forming the gatelaterally over the channel includes forming at least one aperture in thegate above the channel.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein forming theat least one discrete doped region includes implanting the at least onediscrete doped region in the channel through the at least one aperturein the gate.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising implanting adouble-diffused structure adjacent the at least one discrete dopedregion through the at least one implant aperture of the gate.
 15. Themethod of claim 13, wherein forming the at least one discrete dopedregion includes implanting a plurality of discrete doped regions in thechannel through the corresponding apertures in the gate.
 16. The methodof claim 12, wherein forming the channel comprises: disposing a maskingmaterial on a substrate, the masking material having an openingtherethrough to the substrate; and applying an enhancement implant tothe channel defined by the opening through the masking material.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, wherein forming the gate laterally over the channelcomprises: disposing a gate insulation material over the channel;disposing a gate material over the gate insulation material; and formingat least one aperture through the gate material and the gate insulationmaterial to the channel.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprisingapplying an implantation using the gate as a mask to simultaneouslyform: lightly doped structures in the substrate through the at least oneaperture to form at least a portion of the at least one discrete dopedregion; and lightly doped structures in the substrate on opposing endsof the gate.
 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising applying anangular implantation using the gate as a mask to simultaneously form:double diffused doped structures in the substrate through the at leastone aperture around the portion of the at least one discrete dopedregion; and double diffused doped structures in the substrate onopposing ends of the gate.
 20. The method of claim 19, furthercomprising applying a high concentration implantation in the substrateon the opposing ends of the gate to form the source and the drainsurrounded by the double diffused doped structures on the opposing endsof the channel.